A recent Gallup poll of eight nations revealed that 75% of Americans polled could not find the Persian Gulf on an outline map and that over half could not locate Great Britain (GENIP News, 1989). Americans ranked a poor sixth out of the eight nations surveyed. Furthermore, there is evidence that the problem is getting worse. In 1984, 2,200 North Carolina college students responded to the same questions posed in a 1950 New York Times survey. When asked if they could name the country where the Amazon River is mainly found, only 72% responded correctly in 1984 compared to 78% in 1950. When asked where Manila was located, accurate responses declined from 85% in 1950 to 27% in 1984. Surveys documenting the extent of American geographic illiteracy are commonplace in scholarly journals and many newspapers. A January, 1987, survey of 5,000 high school seniors in eight major American cities revealed that 45% of the Baltimore students could not locate the United States on a map and 25% of the students in Dallas could not name the country that borders us on the south! Kilpatrick (1987) commented, "Students don't protest over Vietnam now--they don't even know where it is."
American geographic illiteracy is not only a political problem, it is an increasingly costly economic problem. It is no coincidence that our worldwide economic competitiveness and, ultimately, our standard of living, have declined hand-in-hand with our geographical knowledge. American economy is now highly dependent on foreign sales abroad and foreign investments at home. Foreign trade generates over half of the sales and profits of Fortune 500 companies and American farmers export 40% of their products (Clawson, in press). As Mylle H. Bell, Director of Corporate Planning for Bell South Corporation noted, "A big part of what is now missing in American education is a fundamental understanding of who fits where in the world . . . physically and culturally. Without this essential first stepping stone, it is very hard to go very far in pursuit of international commerce, no matter how good one's wares might be" (GENIP News, 1988).
Educators and others see American geographic illiteracy as one of extreme urgency. So much so that the National Geographic Society promoted "National Geography Awareness Week" Nov. 12-18, 1989. Individual and national well being are affected by geographic ignorance.
Individuals at any level of education have difficulty locating places on a map, especially if the place happens to be in a foreign country or in an area far outside of a given individual's circle of activities. Successfully locating a place on a map or a globe does not necessarily provide the ability to associate the place at a later date with a geographical location or a country unless associated information is given which provides future cues to remind the individual of the place.
Average or below average students often have great difficulty learning geography. Even students who are excellent in geography quickly forget memorized names of major cities and countries unless they are used frequently.
Furthermore, business promoters for a specific locality are limited by brief and, often, unsatisfactory television spots or pamphlets. They need new and unique ways to relay information about their locality to attract prospective investors or outside business people.
Also, existing narrated audio-visual presentations for self-paced studies and training courses, which play a vital role in learning, rely on synchronized, sequential presentation of audio and visual means. It is awkward for a speaker to manually control the audio-visual displays associated with the presentation or rely on someone else to assist him or her. This often leads to confusion and distracts from the course of the presentation.
As far as the inventor is aware, the prior art does not provide a system and method for displaying geographic information like the system and method herein disclosed. Prior U.S. patents do show systems which operate in response to voice commands. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,342 relates to a voice input system for a voice recognizer circuit wherein a cue signal is issued to the user to indicate system readiness. A voice detector detects the presence of a voice signal. Control circuitry determines if a voice is detected prior to the end of the initial cue signal. If so, this causes a second cue signal to be issued, thereby preventing a loss of voice input. The voice detector can also be used to selectively switch from an active one of plural user channels to one of a similar number of voice recognizers. However, the disclosed system does not teach the art of effectively controlling a system that interfaces with the voice input device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,016 discloses a voice control system which is designed to be adaptable to existing computers so that the existing computers may be operated by voice commands. In the preferred embodiment, the invention is connected into the existing keyboard control means and the computer itself with the system. Software controls a priority switch, giving the keyboard priority over voice entries so that the keyboard may still be used even with the invention connected into the circuit. In the preferred embodiment, voice commands are used so that the existing hardware with existing software incorporated therewith, may be effectively operated in a foolproof manner. However, the disclosure does not teach the art of controlling devices connected to the computer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,456 shows a microprocessor for deenergizing the air and water pumps for a whirlpool bath to reduce background noise when a voice communication system is activated from the bath. A stereophonic sound system can also be incorporated in the bath tub control circuit in the same manner. A carrier current control responds to the microprocessor by sending control signals from the bath tub control circuit through the household electrical wiring circuit to regulate other functions, of which heat lamp, room illumination and door unlocking are typical.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,956 discloses an air vehicle control system piloted by remote voice commands. A voice recognizer converts spoken commands into machine compatible control signals which are transmitted to the vehicle. Particular verbal commands are selected for use with said voice recognizer to increase the acceptance probability of the spoken command by the system.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,364 shows a voice actuated toy robot which receives commands via a radio transmitter and receiver. In response to these commands, it propagates a signal through a CPU. Initially, the toy is programmed by storing records of commands in a memory which is associated with the CPU. Upon further receipt of identical commands, the CPU scans the memory and upon finding a match between a record in the memory and a new command, the CPU activates a switch associated with the record in the memory so as to set the switch. A mechanical interrogator is capable of cyclically interrogating a plurality of switches each of which corresponds to one of the records in the memory. Upon such interrogation, if it is determined a signal is present at one of the switches, the interrogator ceases interrogation and a mechanism is set so as to propagate motion from a motor to an appendage driving wheel or the like of the robot to produce an output in response to the audio command which was received.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,927 shows a voice recognition system which digitizes sequentially spoken words forming a vocabulary. As each word is spoken during an initializing phase, its digital value forms a score which corresponds directly to an address in memory. During a later voice recognition phase, any word spoken is scored and the word is read from an indirectly addressed memory without the necessity of comparisons with the data stored in each memory location.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,924 discloses a voice actuated control system for a motor vehicle. A microphone mounted to a vehicle senses user commands as well as other noise in the passenger compartment. Analog electrical signals from the microphone are converted into digital form and compared by a high speed microprocessor with a user profile. A correspondence between the profile and the sensed input causes a control function (e.g., raising or lowering a window) to be performed. A speech synthesizer in the system prompts the user in the event a command in a command sequence is inappropriate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,408 discloses a user-application program for computerized telephone ordering. It is generated by a system designer who selects and interconnects pre-defined program modules and subroutines using a graphics terminal. The application program allows TOUCH TONE input data and voice response. The invention describes a Dialog Production System (DPS) for generating application programs for instructing a computer-controlled voice response system to provide computer-controlled voice services. The DPS includes interaction modules, each defining a basic end-user transaction, which can be performed by the system, and methods for specifying module interconnection. Each interaction module controls the intercommunication with other modules and the devices which interface to the system. To design a dialog program to implement the desired voice service, the system designer uses a graphic terminal to select and interconnect the modules that define the sequence of transactions needed.
U.S. Pat. No, 4,766,529 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,569 relate to a computer controlled by voice input. It has a speech recognition section for converting a key word of a program, which is entered by the voice input and corresponds to a start number, thereby obtaining a digital code. The digital code date, which indicate the key word, select the start number corresponding to the storage content of a table stored in a program memory. The start number data are used to access a start address of the corresponding program, thereby starting and executing the program. Also disclosed is a system wherein when a chosen key of a key input device is operated while a voice operator guidance is generated, a key-in signals is produced to forcibly stop the ongoing guidance. In particular, when a plurality of voice operator guidances are provided, the computer learns the state of the operation by the operator from the manner of the forcible stop, and automatically stops the generation of the voice guidance on a specific item from the next processing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,542 shows a speech synthesizer control circuit for use in a vehicle. The circuit includes a number of features which provide cost effectiveness while maintaining speech synthesizer reliability. One feature of the invention is use of a counter circuit interposed between a control circuit and memory where messages are stored. The counter is clocked by the controller to create an address within the memory for a particular message. Other features of the invention include controlling speech volume, chime generation, and voltage protocols in the speech synthesizer control circuit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,766 relates to a system for simultaneously coding and decoding a plurality of signals. In a multi-channel system, a transmitting encoder includes an adaptive quantatizer for each channel, an adaptive bit-allocator using an update algorithm common to all channels, and multiplexer which rearranges signals responsive to bit-allocation information which, in turn, is not transmitted. At the receiving decoder, bit-allocation information is recovered by logic using the transmitter update algorithm. Four embodiments are disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,451 shows a microprocessor system including a CPU device with on-chip or off-chip memory, and data and control busses for accessing memory and/or peripherals. The peripheral circuitry includes one or more channels for input and/or output if data, wherein various characteristics of the treatment of data in the channel are controlled by the program being executed in the CPU. In one embodiment, analog input and output channels are included, and the A-to-D or D-to-A conversion rates are selected by executing a data output instruction by the CPU. The cut-off points of the filters are likewise selected. The A-to-D converter loads a first-in first-out memory which is read by the CPU in burst when filled. Likewise, the CPU loads digital data to a first-in first-out memory in the output channel, and then the D-to-A converts at its selected rate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,403 relates to a speech recognition system for an automotive vehicle which sequentially activates at least one device having plural different operating modes in accordance with a plurality of spoken instructions without repeating the same phrase. To adjust fender mirrors, for instance, first the driver says (delta) Mirror while depressing a recognition switch to stop the moving mirror; second the driver says (delta) Right, horizontally, third the driver says (delta) Stop. The speech recognition system comprises a reset switch, at least one device instruction phrase memory, plural operation-mode instruction phrase memories, and a reference pattern memory selector for selecting the device memory or an appropriate operation-mode memory, in addition to or in place of a section of a conventional speech recognizer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,019 relates to programmable I/O (input/output) interface circuitry and provides video and audio signals, needed for a video computer/game, to a commercial color television type display/monitor and may be implemented in HMOS large-scale-integrated circuitry. The system architecture allows for reduced chip count, and improved reliability while providing signals, chrominance phase shift signals, raster control and cursor control video and three independently controlled audio voices. A software selectable keyboard latch input, plural speed processing for faster operation when outside the active display area or during blanking, all system control signals necessary for system operation and three independently controlled interrupt generating timers are also provided.
None of these references provide a voice responsive system which promotes learning by highlighting a geographical location and providing information about that location.
In particular, the cited references do not teach a system of computer-controlled turning and tilting of a globe to illuminate an area or a spot in response to a vocalized name of a city, which simultaneously prompts a display of graphics and data related to the city or geographical location and a voice synthesizer for reading the data, or a system which also controls the display and selection of slides on a slide projector or the review of portion of a videotape prepared for the location. Also, as far as the inventor is aware, the prior art does not teach the random selection of portions of the presentation for review by mixing the audio presentation and visual display or the remote selection of orderly displays.
Accordingly, there is a need for a computer-aided and voice-activated system for visual localization of geographic locations on a globe while reviewing information related to selected localities, whether on a computer monitor or by viewing associated displays. There is also a need for a system which allows hands-free selection of slides, scenes, or video portions during recorded or live presentations.